Out of the Park Baseball 16 - Officially Licensed by MLB.com, Available in March 2015!

Pre-Order By Feb. 15: Save $5, Get Early Access Plus an Additional Free Steam Key, and a Chance to Win a $500 MLB.com Shop Gift Certificate!

"OOTP is an astonishing accomplishment." Those words were recently said to us by none other than Boston Red Sox principal owner John W. Henry. We asked him for more thoughts in our interview with him, which you can read about further down this newsletter.

We've been very gratified by what many others have said about the game since our unveiling of OOTP 16 last month. The inclusion of official MLB.com and Minor League Baseball licenses in OOTP 16 resulted in many news articles, along with plenty of chatter across the Internet.

Click here to Pre-Order OOTP 16 for PC Windows and Mac OS X

Click here to Pre-Order OOTP 16 for Linux

If you've placed your pre-order already, we deeply thank you. But if you haven't pre-ordered yet, we wanted to remind you that you have just two more days to get the special pre-order price of $34.99 and receive an entry in an exciting sweepstakes!

Here are the details:

• Now through February 15, pre-order OOTP 16 for the special price of $34.99 and earn an entry in our best sweepstakes yet.*
• Three winners will each receive a $500 MLB.com Shop gift certificate, which can be redeemed without limitation, for example jerseys, caps, books, DVDs, and much more!** (You may also opt for a $500 Amazon gift card.)
• You'll receive an additional free Steam key after release of the game.***
• Get the game three days before its official March release!

We won't be done with the giveaways after the price goes to $39.99 on February 16, though. Everyone who pre-orders between February 16th and three days before the official release in March will still receive a free OOTP 16 Steam key and get the game three days early.***

Before we get to the new features in OOTP 16, feast your eyes on these new screenshots:

Screenshots from a pre-beta build. Work in progress.

Click here to Pre-Order OOTP 16 for PC Windows and Mac OS X

Click here to Pre-Order OOTP 16 for Linux

Here are the new and revamped features you'll find in OOTP 16. As in past years, more surprise features will be added as we get closer to shipping.

Official MLB.com and MiLB Licenses!

That's right: As soon as you launch a new game, you'll enjoy official league logos, 30 MLB team logos and jerseys, over 150 MiLB team logos and jerseys, and even historical MLB logos!

Guide your favorite MLB franchise to glory with the most authentic baseball management game available! (Yes, iOOTP Baseball, which will now be called MLB Manager, is getting the same treatment, along with an Android version. We'll reveal more details in our next baseball newsletter on February 27.)

2015 Opening Day Rosters

Our brand new 2015 roster sets include all Opening Day MLB rosters, as well as the complete minor league system down to the rookie leagues. All major league (and certain minor league) player ratings are based on Baseball Prospectus' industry-leading player forecasting system, PECOTA. The thousands of remaining minor league players are carefully rated by hand by our established research team.

Will San Diego's offseason frenzy pay dividends? Is this finally the year the Blue Jays return to the top of the American League East? Find out for yourself!

New International and Independent Leagues Added

Last year, we introduced 7 international leagues in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Cuba, Italy and The Netherlands. This year, we added the Australian Baseball League to that list, along with several independent leagues in the US and Japan. All of those leagues feature real rosters, of course, with countless hours of work invested in researching realistic bio info, statistics and ratings for thousands of real players.

New Team Owner Goals

Real-life GMs may not want smarter owners, but we think you'll appreciate your new team owner, who won't just tell you to go out there and win as many games as you can. Now he'll give you short- and long-term goals, which may include: winning the World Series within X seasons; fixing a certain weakness on your roster; extending the contract of a star player; and much more. Your ability to meet those goals not only decides if you'll be fired but also determines if your contract will be extended at a higher salary, which is another new feature this year.

Improved Team Finances and Reporting

We have redesigned large chunks of the team finance system, including new season ticket sales, a team finances screen based on widgets, a new accounting screen, and much more. You'll be better at the money-related part of your job than ever before. On top of that, we have recoded and improved the entire AI related to finances, resulting in more realistic player contracts and negotiations and more stable long-term team finances.

Completely Redesigned Manager and Coaches System

One of our favorite new features this year is the redesigned coaching model. Managers and coaches now have certain personalities and special skills or preferences, which will result in plenty of interesting choices. Do you want the manager of your team (if you decide to play GM-only) to be an easy-going stathead, or do you need a veteran hard-nosed manager who is able to cope with the disgruntled players in the clubhouse? Do you want a pitching coach who is an expert in working with power pitchers, or is your staff based more on control artists who could benefit from a coach who knows how to work with finesse pitchers?

Recoded Team Strategy System

You spoke and we listened: We agreed that setting your team's in-game strategy was a tedious task, so we've completely redesigned that part of the game. Now you can quickly set your preferred strategies and move on to more important matters. Beware, though: If you play GM-only, you'll find that some managers won't let you dictate certain strategies.

Better Playoff Coverage

The race for playoff berths is the most exciting part of every baseball season, so we added a new Pennant Chase screen that displays the strength of the remaining schedule and the chance for each team to make the playoffs. We also improved the related news coverage. Who will win it all?

Improved 3D Ball Flight

Last year we introduced support for 3D stadiums and realistic 3D ball flight, which was a big step-up for the series. OOTP 16 improves on that 3D presentation and includes great-looking 3D models of all 30 MLB ballparks.

Much More

Of course, that's not all. Every year we offer many smaller features, and OOTP 16 is no exception. It includes:

• New play modes (Manager only, GM only, and GM + Manager), so you can decide exactly how you'd like to run your team
• An improved simulation engine that incorporates the latest research and trends, such as infield shifts and pitcher usage
• Rainouts with automatic rescheduling, adding the realism that comes with rain-shortened and cancelled games. Is your bullpen strong enough to handle those late-season double-headers?
• Better in-game sound
• An enhanced interface, such as a player info pop-up when resting the mouse pointer over a button which links to a player, or automatic syncing between lineups and depth charts when making changes to either of them.
• A great new Find-A-Player feature: Define certain criteria (ratings, stats, salary etc.) and find exactly the player you were looking for
• Recoded All-Star Game features with real voting (including online league support)

• Realistic OOTP Hall of Fame selection process, including simulated voting and new stats like JAWS, HoF Standards, Black & Grey Ink Tests
• More player awards, for example Most Valuable Player, Playoff Series MVPs, best hitters by position and Reliever of the Year
• Better playoff history tracking, including career playoff stats for all real players in the database and playoff leaderboards
• Alternate currencies (Euro, Pounds Sterling, Yen, etc.)
• The option to define background pictures for teams and leagues
• Much more

Every year we wonder if we can top last year's version of the game and every year we pull it off. Look for our Road to Release series to hit your in box soon!

Boston Red Sox Principal Owner John W. Henry:
'OOTP is an Astonishing Accomplishment'

It's not every day that you get an email from someone who owns a significant share of a Major League Baseball team (it's Markus' and Sebastian's favorite club, too), but we experienced one of those days not long ago when we heard from John W. Henry, whose business partnership is the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox.

Last year, he found OOTP 15 and decided to check it out, since he has a long history of involvement in baseball sims. He was so impressed by what he saw that he sent Markus an email to say that the game "is an astonishing accomplishment."

We asked him to elaborate, and the result was an interview that became our latest blog post. Give it a read to find out why he said he was "amazed by the breadth and depth of OOTP."

See you in two weeks!

The OOTP Developments Team

Click here to Pre-Order OOTP 16 for PC Windows and Mac OS X

Click here to Pre-Order OOTP 16 for Linux